It's social media time...do you know where your children are?

As part of our Online Public Relations class, Jessica Wolfraim, Leanne Bull, Brittney Ashley and I created a podcast discussing social media and children. When I joined Facebook, it could only be used by university students-- but judging by the fact that I know of 12 year olds that are using Facebook, Myspace, and who knows what else, it stands to reason that the reach of social media is getting wider and its users are getting younger. As such, we thought that the uses of social media programs by kids would make for an interesting discussion about safety, liability and social development.



For this podcast, we interviewed Jen Lord, who manages the Online Communities at Corus Entertainment. Specifically, she works on social media tools for YTV, which targets kids between the ages of 6 and 18. As you'll hear during the podcast, she offered us some interesting insights about the pros and cons of kids using social media, and what steps are and should be taken to ensure that online communication is productive and safe.

For more information, here are some interesting reads on the topic. These websites provided a background for our research before we conducted the interview:


Ewan McIntosh Issues surrounding children, education and internet

“Participatory Media Literacy: Why it Matters” By Michael Wesch

“Social Networking: A quantitative and qualitative research report into attitudes, behaviour and use”
Conducted by the Office of Communications in the UK in April 2008

Have a listen and send a comment my way if you'd like a copy of the transcript!